That's why they call them the entertainers

Agreed. We were slagging him off in pub before but thought that was his best game for a long time today, on both attack and defence.

He might not have done a load more in attack after the initial first run but we know that's going to happen. Defensively he looked as solid as anyone out there for Leeds.

As much as someone like Singleton offers more in carrying the ball, I feel more confident with Kirke in defence.

Just think how happy and excited you would be with 13 Kirkes in the team. Lovely stuff

Does Singleton offer that much more, ball in hand?

IMO he doesn't make that many more yards in a carry, and he doesn't tend to generate a much quicker PTB.

You might get more quantity, but not more quality.

Singleton has struggled for consistency this year, but when he's been good he's been very good. It hasn't helped that the amount of minutes he plays seems to fluctuate with each game. He was excellent over easter when given more minutes on the field. He can be slow at marker occasionally, but IMO if it came down to a straight choice between Singleton, and Kirke I'd choose Singleton every time.

oh cant wayte to git on theer

I thought we played well and fully deserved the winning margin and maybe more.
At the game there was some frustration about how we had "kept them in it" during the first half.
I thought Hardaker ,Hall and Ablett were outstanding throughout but the 17 all put a positive shift in imo.
Also I thought Kirke played well and should retain his shirt unless he is rotated ,with losing Burrow I'd like to see Sinfield at 9 with Mags 7 and Sutty 6.
Then with that in mind Robbie Ward on the bench the lad has earned it and has the talent to warrant a chance to play for us at SL level.

I thought we lost a bit in defence when Sutcliffe and Singleton came on. It's not a criticism, but they're young lads and their reads in the line still aren't always quite there.

I thought everyone was good. Hall, Ablett and Hardaker stood out, Moon was very good too. The pack were terrific too.

Good show all round. The Burrow injury leaves us light on our 1st and 2nd choice hookers. Which is a big blow.

I think he made about 7 carries. Did he have a second spell? I don't recall him coming back on, but he may just not have been that involved

Sutcliffe really needs to start thinking about how he defends.

Last season he was flying out of the line and more often than not getting it wrong. Yesterday he completely lost Josh Jones because he was too busy ball-watching to see him change his angle of run.

Still learning, but he needs to start getting that right and quickly. He's a big lad, he shouldn't need to be hidden defensively.

Shame that because it was a very good game. Best one Leeds have been in all year.

Well that was a pretty decent result for you guys.

I expected slightly better from us, but we seem to be in the habit of being stupid at the moment.

Not saying we would have won, but if we could stop doing non-pressurized errors, it would have made the game a little tighter.

I think you had our number all over the pitch yesterday. Well done and good luck with the rest of the competition. With a bit of luck you will make the final and be too beered up the following week, making our next trip to headingley more enjoyable.

It was, he rolled Amor back. But would have to agree didn't notice much further contribution with ball in hand. He swatted a few in defence though.

If Wilkin was preferred over Hohaia to offer a kicking game in the halves it royally back fired. Piss-poor kicks all afternoon.

Yeah, I thought that. I think he's still living off that one good game at Headingley 5 years ago

I was surprised by Wilkin's selection in the halves too. Hohaiha gets critisised but he always seems to have a decent game against us.

Slightly O/T but does anyone else find him (his punditry) annoying? He reminds me of Gary Nevile!

I don't really have an issue with his punditry (or big Eorl's either). I more appreciate hearing the views of current players.

That said, I started watching the match on iPlayer last night and felt a bit uncomfortable with the stupid interview with him by RHP while he was lying down and stretching his legs; similarly the close up camera shots zooming in and out on Masoe and the others. There were several moments in that section where viewers were getting uncomfortable 'up-short-shorts-shots' of several of the Saints players wriggling around on their backs.

The RL shorts are brief at the best of times, let alone with a camera pointing up them while the players are on the floor!

Wilkin is BBC's poster boy so he had to be at the heart of things.

Involved in the pre-match build up 'interviewing' Lomax and again was featured when Robbie Paul (cringe) had to get Wilkins thought whilst he was doing pre-match warms up. All cringe.

Wilkin & Co bottled each kick, they didn't know where to put it. And that fear filtered through the team.

To be fair, who would you kick to? HAll is the biggest and strongest winger around and returns the ball pretty hard. Briscoe similar. Hardaker has the feet to break the first tackle.

Having said that, you can only put pressure on kick receivers if you are winning the field position. Saints didn't do that so were never in a position to challenge for the ball from the kicks

Who you kick to isn't the point with Leeds' back line. It's how you kick.

Saints constantly found no mans land. From distance long and deep with a chase of one committed line. Worst case it runs dead with a 20 tap, that's not the end of the world, with all the defence set up on 30m line. From short make it a contest or trickle in-goal.

Is Hohaia injured or just not selected?
If I were Nathan Brown I'd be tempted to put Hohaia to full back and have Lomax & Walsh in the halves.
I think the more times Saints can get the ball into Lomax's hands the better for them.

I still don't see the benefits Wilkin at 6 brings. As a backup for injuries then fine but otherwise I'd far rather have him at 2nd row or loose.

Our kicking game drew criticism from some quarters but the bombs certainly resulted in Lomax taking a bit of a pasting which perhaps nullified his threat a bit. It also gave him fewer running opportunities.

As for Wilkin, I hope your preference is for him to play second row or loose for saints. We do have standards you know

I certainly agree with this.When i saw the team sheet on Saturday i was a lot more confident of victory seeing that Hohaia was not playing given his usual top performances against us in recent times.

No I meant for us! I'd play him at second row so he can be amongst our "cowardly" forwards who "whoop" when they go into tackles.

He's big on player welfare is Jon. So I'd give him an off-field role in stadium management. Then he could ensure the pitch isn't watered before kick off and there aren't any cameras in the dressing room.

Jon Wilkin = Carl Ablett's slower, less skilful, bitchier, older brother.